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tv   MSNBC Live  MSNBC  November 27, 2012 8:00am-9:00am PST

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do. we're monday morning quarterbacking here. when susan rice went on television, it was five days after the incident. here we are months after the incident. we have much more information, we know much more about what happened and what didn't happen. and as doug said, these situations are rolling -- rolling catastrophes where the information you get on monday could change from the information you get on tuesday. and i think what's happening here is that, you know, as we said in the editorial as doug mentioned, while senators graham, ayotte and mccain are focused on what susan rice, ambassador rice said on the sunday talk shows, they are not asking any questions at all about the real questions about security there at the consulate in benghazi. that's where their interest and focus and ire should be pointed. not at a u.n. ambassador who went on the sunday talk shows as a spokesperson for the
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administration giving, imparting the information she was given by the intelligence community. >> and susan, for those just joining us. this happened moments ago in the last hour. i want to remind everyone what the three senators had to say. take a look. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get. >> bottom line, i'm more disturbed now than i was before that the 16 september explanation about how four americans died in benghazi, libya, by ambassador rice, i think, does not do justice to the reality at the time. >> clearly the impression that was given, the information given to the american people was wrong, in fact, ambassador rice said today absolutely, it was wrong. >> a lot of people going into this and speculated about the fact that rice was taking these meetings diplomatic approach.
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to paving the way to a potential nomination by the president. are they so entrenched they don't care what susan rice has to say and acting as if she conducted this investigation herself? >> i'm not sure exactly what their strategy was coming out of that meeting. it was a good political move by susan rice to ask for the meeting and go there, it certainly helps her on the pr front. but more importantly, i think the questions that need to be asked now are what jonathan and doug referred to. if you have a problem with what she said, look to the administration and look how they handled it because the fact is they did fumble along this for almost a month. it wasn't necessarily susan rice's fault. and to use this to judge her if she's qualified to be secretary of state really isn't smart politically or policy wise. >> but it definitely puts this in the top of the block. do you think --
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>> just to say -- i think that was a mistake because right now people want to see people coming together. they should have said this is a productive meeting, we have other questions to go, but we need more conversation. >> we do want to find out as a country, find out exactly what happened there. we did lose four american lives. and not to lessen this, but these not tourists in libya. these are four state department workers who knew the dangers of what they were involved in. they elected to be there. it is a tragic loss of life, but it's not one that we, you know, obviously as the senator said, this is a terrible intelligence failure. but what is the case moving forward? now that rice has gone up there and done her due diligence with meeting three of her harshest critics, how does she move on from this if she is the one, again, by these three senators be pinned with, well, she was
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wrong the whole time? >> thomas, that's a good question. i would say that the focus here, i really think should be on what happened catching these terrorists and making sure it doesn't happen again. and i think with this overheated rhetoric, we're missing the point, and that is to really investigate the security around the consulate and then what happened afterwards. and i think that's where we should be focusing our energy. i think that, look, if the president chooses to nominate her to be secretary of state, she's very well qualified. she should be able to receive a fair hearing from in the senate. and i hope she gets that because she's done a great service for this country over the course of the last four years. >> one thing i want to show to everybody is that a new cnn poll out shows a majority of americans believe that the white house misstatements were based on the best information that officials had at the time. 40% say there was no cover-up. so jonathan, does this meeting
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give the senators, you know, because of that? and we look at this poll, i mean how american people feel about this. does this meeting give the senators basically new ground to move forward on to try to discredit or try to claim that there's some type of deeper cover-up that went on prior to the election? >> well, looking at those results, it was -- it would seem to me that, you know, the senators took a big risk here because the majority of the american people think the administration put out information, the best information they had at the time, which is what susan rice did. and i think the other danger for these senators is that they look incredibly petty going after ambassador rice when as doug said and i said and susan recognizes is that the bigger issue here is the security questions and how it was possible that four americans, including the american ambassador were killed in a violent action. that is the big question, not
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what the u.n. ambassador said on the sunday shows. they look incredibly petty right now. >> does this muddy the waters, though, if the president has a desire to move susan rice to a cabinet level position? >> it shouldn't. i actually think that's where the senators made a bit of a mistake. they should have, again, stepped back to allow further discussion. it does, jonathan's right, it does look petty to go after the spokesperson, go after the problem, but not the spokesperson in this case. and going forward, the president -- if the president puts her up, she's going to get it. let's face it. at the end of the day, her nomination will go through. and i don't think it'll be wise for anyone to fight it based on these reasons. >> our power panel for the day. great to see all three of you. thank you. >> thanks, tom. i want to go back to the other big story unfolding in washington. the president's fiscal cliff campaign. live pictures of the white house are president obama will meet today with 15 small business owners. the first of a series of meetings this week as the administration puts the pressure
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on congress to make a deal. the "washington post" reporting the talks are accelerating between president obama and top congressional leaders, including john boehner who was on the phone with the president over the weekend. the white house's pr campaign is being buoyed along by warren buffett who is voicing support for tax hikes for americans just like him. >> i think it would have a great effect in terms of the morale of the middle class who have seen themselves paying high payroll taxes, income taxes and then watched guys like me end up paying a rate that's below that, you know, paid by the people in my office. >> joining me now is wisconsin's republican senator ron johnson. senator, it's great to have you with us this morning. and as we talk about what's taking place in washington, d.c. right now, the million dollar question is all concerns around senators lindsey graham, saxby chambliss, congressman peter king among other republicans who said they'd be willing to break away from grover norquist's anti-tax pledge.
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will you say if you're willing to break that pledge in order to save the country from the fiscal cliff. >> hello, thomas. and first of all, i signed that pledge two years ago, and the reason i signed it is because i think increasing tax rates, increasing the amount of money that the federal government takes away from job creators is going to harm economic growth and economic growth is the number one component to a solution. what all these senators are saying is they'll take a look at their pledge only if the president puts forward his plan. how is he going to close the other part of that deficit? you know, his proposal right now, the most he can say would raise would be about $68 billion when our deficit last year was $90 billion. what is the president's plan for closing the additional additional $1 trillion worth of
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deficit? i think that's incumbent on the president to put forward his plan. >> from your standpoint alone, there's no way you see fit in the coming 35 days that you would break that pledge with glove norquist. >> well, thomas, let's use a couple numbers here. even with this measly economic growth we've seen the last three years, revenue at the federal government has increased $344 billion per year. if we just return to a normal economy that returns about 18.5%, that would increase revenue an additional over $400 billion per year, that's $750 billion of revenue per year through economic growth. and the president, his proposal would raise 1/10 of that but would put at risk the economic growth and that $750 billion. so -- >> sir, with all due respect, though -- >> counterproductive. >> that's an answer to the question. there's nothing you see over the next 35 days that would have you break that pledge with grover norquist? >> no, because raising taxes
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harms the economic growth. you get ten times the revenue by economic growth rather than punishing success. and, again, all of us are saying president obama, show us your plan for restraining the size of government, that's the main problem. again, his revenue proposal would raise $68 billion when we have over $1 trillion worth of deficit. where's the other $1 trillion in his balance plan? mr. president, show us your plan. >> sir, one thing, mitch mcconnell has said that revenue is on the table as long as entitlements would be on the table. conducting a fly-in lobbying day there in washington, d.c. this is where union leaders from 33 states are going to pressure their representatives to let the bush tax cuts expire and keep social security out of the fiscal cliff negotiations. lawmakers are being presented with this written letter in part by richard trumpka who is the president of that. accusing republicans of holding
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the economy hostage in that letter saying the ransom demands are tax cuts for the wealthy and benefit cuts for working people. how do you respond to him saying that basically the right is holding hostage takers basically of the american economy at the expense of the working man for the benefit of the wealthiest americans? >> the only senators i've heard, you know, threaten the american public in terms of taking the economy off the fiscal cliff is harry reid, president obama, he says he wants to compromise. he says there's only two options here, take the economy off the fiscal cliff or do it my way. that doesn't sound like something he's willing to negotiate in good faith. so, listen, republicans want to restore confidence and certainty to this economy. i don't think want to play brinkmanship, the way to do this is through pro-growth tax reform. i'll quote the numbers again. you'll get ten times the amount of revenue by growing the economy, $750 billion versus the measly $68 billion that the
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president's proposing by punishing success. i think that would work far better. >> and you're saying revenue because by taxing the wealthiest americans, it cuts off what has been referred to as job creators from actually getting americans to work so we have more americans working that are then paying into the tax system. >> thomas, i'm one of those job creators, those small business people. i could have explained to him what's on the minds of job creators, the people that make those investment decisions and capital equipment, make the hiring decisions. he doesn't understand that because he's never participated in it. so the problem with punishing success is you put at risk that economic growth that can increase revenue by $750 billion a year. now, you tell me, what works better? growing the economy or punishing success? >> sir, thanks for your time today, i appreciate it. >> have a great day. >> you too. this leads to our big question of the day, the afl-cio calling republicans hostage takers. do you agree? are both sides standing in the
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way of compromise? and we're going to get to the other side of the issue when i speak with bernie sanders of vermont. we are keeping our eyes on the breaking news coming to us out of cairo. i want to show you live pictures of protesters back in tahrir square today for another day of demonstrations over the egyptian president's effort to assert new powers. the protesters reminiscent of the uprising that took down hosni mubarak two years ago, and we've heard a third protester has died as a result of these protests. n. time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage.
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breaking news from egypt. thousands of protesters gathered in tahrir square. 6:15 at night there, many have been chanting step down in
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reaction to the decree issue by egypt's new president that grants him absolute power. the sixth straight day of protest after morsi issued his decree last thursday. earlier today, the protest turning violent on a street near tahrir square. at least three protesters have been killed since the weekend. nbc live from cairo. and the crowd in tahrir square has been growing, building over the past hours. explain what we're seeing now. >> reporter: well, behind me, probably tens of thousands of egyptians have gathered, been here since the early hours of the morning. in fact, some have been camped out for the past six days. many songs, chants, slogans reminiscent of two years ago, calling on the same things they did two years ago, which is for the president of egypt to step down. they've changed the name, obviously, to reflect egypt's new islamist president. you mentioned that incident today with the tear gas and the police, that took place outside
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the u.s. embassy. riot police there fired tear gas and rubber bullets to try to keep the crowds at bay. one of the central issues of the protesters behind me is that since the end of the revolution, egypt's police force has not been reformed. many of the senior officers are still in positions of power that has led to them continuing many of the brutal tactics that they used under the mubarak era. and today, the people behind me have gathered demanding a few important changes. one, they want president morsi to rescind the decree that he issued on thursday that gave him absolute powers, but more importantly, they want egypt's constitutional assembly. they want writing a new constitution to be more inclusive and reflect egypt's pluralistic viewpoints. the people behind me are the opposition. they have been dormant, haven't been unified. today, many of egypt's more powerful, secular liberal opposition forces have united for the first time. these numbers are unprecedented for them. and i think they are sending from what they're telling me, at least, they're sending a very
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important message for the new president and the islamist rulers. >> president morsi does have supporters, though who have voiced that he had to do the decree to rein in some of egypt's powerful judges. again, as you talked about in drafting this new country wide constitutional, explain more on that, and also, we hear the voices swelling behind you. what are they saying, exactly? >> sure, they're chanting in arabic a few of the slogans we've heard from the revolution of 2011. the arabic word for leave also saying the regime must collapse, in reference to president morsi's government that they want to see collapse. in terms of the popularity of president morsi, there's no doubt him and the muslim brotherhood enjoy tremendous amount of popularity across egypt. after all, they didn't win parliamentary elections and also won the presidential elections. however, their supporters have not come out to the streets today. in fact, the muslim brotherhood
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has asked them not to participate in demonstrations in support of morsi. they wanted to avoid the kind of confrontations and clashes that led to the killing of protesters. so they have refrained from participating in an organized protest that was scheduled for today. right now, it is the opposition forces behind me that have command of tahrir square. and precisely the reason they're using this opportunity to deliver their message. the question is whether president morsi and the other rulers at this stage are going to heed those calls for a more pluralistic process in transitioning egypt to a democracy. >> thank you, sir. i appreciate it. elsewhere in the middle east, yasser arafat's remains have been exhumed today. palestinian officials believe he may have been poisoned by israel. a claim israel denies. he died in paris in 2004, a month after falling suddenly ill at his west bank compound.
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the high financial cost of hurricane sandy is coming into focus. new york has requested $42 billion in aid and new jersey officials estimate they suffered at least $29 billion in losses, bringing the total of $71 billion in the two hardest hit states. sandy was in some ways worse than hurricane katrina, citing the high economic cost and property destruction. meanwhile, a top executive and a trustee for the power company have resigned in the wake of the company's slow response in getting power back to new yorkers on long island. here's a look at some of the other stories topping the news right now. a fast-moving storm system sweeping through the mid-atlantic this morning bringing a wet mixture of rain and snow. the storm is expected to put down 1 to 3 inches of snow from west virginia to new york. early numbers suggest that cyber monday raked in big numbers. according to ibm, online sales jumped 30% over last year, sales on ebay and amazon.com were very
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strong. kevin clash is now being accused of a third sexual relationship with an underage boy. the latest accuser claims he was 16 when he met him. a spokesman for clash denies these new allegations. halle berry's ex-boyfriend has released pictures from his thanksgiving day brawl with berry's fiancee. he claims martinez tried to kill him and is now obtained a restraining order against him. and take a look at this, the 6-year-old daughter of ana nicole smith is following in her late mom's footsteps by becoming a guess model. she's part of a new campaign for a guess line of kids clothing. her father spoke to gma about her new modelling career. >> to see her mom's picture next to hers as a guess girl and say, hey, i was a guess kids girl and my mommy was a guess girl, that might be her only connection with her mom.
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all right, we are back now with much more on the developing news out of washington, d.c. no reaction from the white house to the tough criticism given by three senators in the wake of a meeting with susan rice. all three senators, graham, mccain, and ayotte describing themselves as more troubled now than they were prior to the meeting. >> it is true that the information she gave the american people was incorrect when she said it was a spontaneous demonstration triggered by a hateful video. >> here's the key, in realtime, it was a statement disconnected from reality. >> just to be clear, when you have a position where you're ambassador to the united nations, you go well beyond unclassified talking points in your daily preparation responsibilities for that job. >> so right now, senator john mccain is speaking as part of a panel forum on syria.
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we're going to monitor that event. but joining me now is former white house press secretary joe lockhart to talk more about this. it's been a wild hour, definitely, to see the three senators come to the microphone and make news about the fact that they believe there is more trouble to come. they've got more questions than they do answers. a lot of fire being thrown out when a lot of people speculated, joe, maybe this would help tamper down all the criticism to susan rice. how do you think the reaction has been? do you find this to be typical? >> yeah, you know, the washington post described it as bizarre. i'll call it a very strange and weird strategy. there are legitimate questions to ask about this. any time american lives are lost, particularly those, ambassado ambassadors, those who put their lives at risk. but this is really strange. you know, senator mccain,
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senator graham -- the most important thing is that susan rice, the white house has said that the information she had at the time was not accurate. and to make this now about susan rice and not about what happened and those questions that should be answered is strange. it's a strategy that ultimately will fail. she came to capitol hill to answer their questions about what she knew. she had the cia there with her. and for them to come out and kind of double down on this strange strategy, it really makes no sense. really doesn't make them look good. over the week, i watched lindsey graham on the sunday show. and when he compared this to iran contra which was crimes, felonies, as opposed to susan rice who has said she was given bad information she repeated it and, you know, it's -- and to compare these two, it's just really bizarre. >> joe, were there two different lanes being run here?
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one to maybe discredit susan rice and any potential nomination she might receive to the president's cabinet to replace secretary of state hillary clinton? but then also to make this reference to some type of cover-up happening prior to the reelection? >> well, certainly, they're trying to do both of those things. but in combining them, i think they're weakening any political attack they have. now what they've done is they've made what happened in benghazi a referendum on susan rice, where now when you look at the facts susan has come and explained where -- what she knew and how the statements were made. and that's been cleared up. and what's getting obscured here are the real questions about benghazi. so as a political strategy, it's not a very good one. you know, i think people understand that even in foreign policy people play politics. i'll admit democrats do it, republicans do it. so there is a political strategy here. but it's greatly flawed. and frankly, doesn't make a lot
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of sense. and i think that's why you don't see a lot of other republicans standing behind them. this has become somewhat of a personal attack led by senator mccain and senator graham and it's hard to really see what the value of it is going forward. >> what does it mean to the president and any potential rough road ahead if he does want to go ahead with the nomination of susan rice to that position? >> listen, i think you'll see there are now some rogue senators here who have a -- what looks like a personal problem with susan rice. i think the president has made very clear. he's going to make his decision and he couldn't think any more highly of a public servant than he thinks of susan rice. i mean, let's put this in a little bit of perspective. you know, in 2005, you know, secretary of state condi rice went to capitol hill and there was a huge debate over a flawed iraq policy and tough questions were asked, but both democrats and republicans got behind that nomination, and i think most people believe she served in an
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exemplary way in the second term. this does seem confined to a couple of these republicans who seem to have a personal problem. you know, if this is an overall strategy to weaken the president because of what happened in benghazi, it's a flawed strategy because susan rice was not a central player in that. and that's why, i think, a lot of people are looking at this and saying we don't know what they're up to. this is not normal. this is not one of these well-coordinated political attacks whether they're appropriate or not that you often see in washington. >> yeah, they come out like lions to the cameras. it's interesting, i'd be interested to be a fly on the wall in the room to see how they react to what they're learning. thanks for joining us. just one thing to pass along that we just got to us here at msnbc is the fact that u.n. ambassador susan rice is now on the schedule of senator bob corker, a republican from tennessee who has been critical of rice over the past several
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weeks telling reporters that she sounds more like the head of the democratic national committee when talking about what's going on with the obama administration, and that doesn't sound like a positive secretary of state to him because they need to show their ability to be independent. but, again, senator corker's office now saying they believe they have a private meeting with ambassador rice. it's often lost in politics of the fiscal cliff is how a cliff dive will actually impact your personal finances. and whether you have a job or not if you pay taxes, you're going to take a hit. first place you're going to see it, the federal tax rate for a middle income family. and that means an extra $2,000 out of pocket. next is the payroll tax. if you make, say, $50,000 a year, that's another $1,000 that you're going to fork over to uncle sam. then there is the alternative minimum tax, 27 million will be hit with this for the first time ever. and it's a separate calculation from the regular tax, the average cost, $3,700 a year. then there's the spending cuts,
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pre-cliff, if you're unemployed, you get 99 weeks of benefits, post cliff, 26 weeks. and home interest perks, bye-bye, those could all be gone. bernie sanders, good to have you with me today. and the president is making a full-court press meeting with business leaders today. and i just had senator johnson on earlier in the hour and says he's a small business owner, the president would have been wise to invite him to this meeting to talk to him about what he thinks about what could happen with the fiscal cliff, what do you think about the president's pr moves so far and what he's doing? >> well, i wouldn't call it a pr move. i think what the president is doing is saying we just came from a campaign, one of the key issues in that campaign is whether or not we ask the wealthiest people in this country to start paying their fair share in taxes. and pretty overwhelmingly, and the presidential election,
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senate elections, the person people said, yes, they said that the middle class is disappearing, the richest people in this country are going phenomenally well, their effective tax rate as warren buffett reminds us is very, very low and fairness dictates that the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes so we can deal with deficit reduction in a responsible way. what the president is simply doing is going around the country, i guess to pennsylvania today to say, yeah, what do you think out there? >> and you know what i think? i think there's no state in this country, no state where people think that we give tax breaks to billionaires and at the same time cut social security, medicare, and medicaid. so i think the president is simply reminding the people what the election was about, what poll after poll is about. >> the "new york times" as you bring up, the entitlement programs, the "new york times" reporting that efforts to reform those such programs, those safety net programs, they're meeting resistance from democrats on the hill. earlier i mentioned how i had the opportunity to speak to your
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colleague senator ron johnson about a letter written by afl-cio basically saying that the right has become a hostage taker of the american economy. do you feel that way? and how these negotiations to try to save the country from going over the fiscal cliff? do you feel they have taken the economy basically hostage? >> well, i think this is what the record indicates. for the first time in american history to the best of my knowledge, the republicans in 2011 were prepared not to pay our debts. not to raise the debt ceiling and allow the united states of america to default on its -- what it owes, which could have driven this entire world into a major financial crisis. and they said, hey, we are not going to raise tax rates for the rich, and if it means an international financial crisis, so be it. i think that's being a bully. i think that is hostage taking. i think back in 2010, and by the way, thomas, in midst of this
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whole discussion, we have got to remember, that between 2010 and 2011 we have already as a congress, against my votes, cut over $1 trillion in programs that help low-income people, working people, middle class people, the wealthiest up until now have not paid a nickel more in taxes. so i would answer your question by saying the republicans have been very clear in saying that their job is to represent the largest corporations and the wealthiest people and up until this point they have succeeded. >> well, when we talk about the fact that so many republicans recently have voiced the fact that they will break grover norquist's anti-taxing pledge. certain leaders and colleagues of yours right there that you work with every day, do you think they mean it? do you think they will put revenues on the table and work with you to make something happen over the next 35 days? >> well, i certainly hope so. and every poll that i have seen tells me that is what the
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american people want. but the word revenue is a very, very big word. you can raise revenue by doing away with a mortgage tax deduction which will hurt middle class families. look, real question is are the republicans willing to deal with the fact that while the wealthiest people become wealthier, their effective tax rate is low, are they willing to deal with the reality that we are losing $100 billion every single year because the wealthy and large corporations are stashing their money in the cayman islands -- and other tax havens -- are they willing to deal with that 1 out of 4 corporations pays nothing in taxes. willing to deal with the fact that we have tripled military spending since 1997? so the bottom line here is it's not just revenue, it is where is that revenue going to come from? at a time when we have the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country
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on earth. that gap between the very rich and everybody else is growing wider, the question is, will the republicans ask the wealthiest people in their campaign donors, people who make these big campaign contributions and the super pacs to start paying their fair share of taxes? >> bernie sanders, thanks for your time. >> thank you very much. the race to replace jesse jackson jr., a special election set to fill his seat in the house of representatives. could another jackson replace him? like his wife? coming up next, though, casey pick joining the program. he's going to be talking to me about what it -- she's going to be talking about what it's like to be a gay woman in the gop. 5% of your mou, listerine® cleans virtually your entire mouth. so take your oral health to a whole new level. listerine®... power to your mouth™. with scottrader streaming quotes, any way you want.
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citizens, lower quality health care, limited homeless aid, and less in school tolerance and anti-bullying programs. of course this cliffside showdown has roots in the losses on election day. and while that came to a rebuke as many in the gop for lgbt conservatives, it also represents an opportunity for a political reboot. the gop has long attracted a male demographic, both gay and straight who back the party's small government, big military message. but one group often underestimated in the landscape is the lesbian population. casey pick, it's good to have you on the show. and i want to bring this up. because the new york sometimes did a story on this. and i want to read you a quote from their story. it says that gay activists say in many cases these unicorns were republicans before they were gay, driven by libertarian principles, they often did not acknowledge their sexual orientation even to themselves until middle age. now, just a reminder for
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everybody, your group endorsement, romney for president, on your group website says inclusion wins. however, romney didn't offer that style in his message. from your position, why should a lesbian voter give the republicans a second look? >> for the same reason that any voter should consider all issues when they decide who they want to support in an election. lesbian voters, like all americans, are multifacetted individuals and when you speak about the potential to fiscal cliff and the damage to the economy, we've considered the economy when we made our endorsement decision. and lesbian voters, well, when you've got an economy that is sluggish, when you've got high unemployment figures, a population that suffers from potential discrimination in 29 states is going to look hard at who they think is going to make the best decisions for the economy. >> when it comes to voting, though, is that the only thing that the log cabin republicans looked at was the economy and
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giving that endorsement to mitt romney because he is not a supporter of marriage equality or even civil unions. and from what we know about what was discussed during the primary, he's pro-life against abortion, paul ryan is in congress trying to draft person hood amendments that limit a woman's right to choose. they are not for lily ledbetter the fair pay act to give women equality in the workplace. and mitt romney's not for the employment nondiscrimination act. so -- >> we are -- thomas. >> yeah. >> we are an lgbt advocacy group, so of course, the freedom to serve in our nation's military, the freedom to marry are all vital issues of real concern to us. and after meeting with the candidate and speaking with the campaign frequently, we did come to the conclusion that we felt we could work with the romney administration on issues like workplace nondiscrimination. that said, you're right, we do
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currently disagree with governor romney on the issue of marriage. but that is a significant part of why log cabin republicans exist. we are republicans who can speak to other republicans to make the conservative case for these issues. i mean, we have watched the united states move very rapidly on these issues over the last ten years. and as much as president obama had a process to evolve on the issue of marriage, the same is true also for republicans. more and more of whom today are coming to support even the freedom to marry. >> you make a great point there. the president coming out over the summer for his support, his full evolvement on marriage equality. what is it, though, casey that you think is going to attract younger party members? because in my research for this, you know, people under the age of 45, overwhelmingly support marriage equality. but there are certain, i guess, hold-ups for what the republican party current leadership seems to cast in terms of their vision that is acting as a detractor
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when it comes to minority groups in this country. how do you wish to combat that? >> well, thankfully since the election, you have seen a significant amount of introspection on the of the republican party realizing we will have to do better at reaching out to groups like women, like hispanics, and to the growing number of americans, particularly younger americans, who support full equality for their lgbt friends and neighbors. you noted a majority of young voters support the freedom to marry. 49% of republicans under 44 support the freedom to marry. this is a rapid change and something that the republican party will have to incorporate as it goes forward and looks ahead to victories. >> log cabin republican programs director casey. thank you for making time for me. >> happy to be here. >> jeb bush spotted near the white house. does he have his sights on 1600 pennsylvania avenue in 2016? poly side bar, next. [ whistle blows ]
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jeb bush on pennsylvania avenue. it's time for the poly side bar. the former governor spotted out with a group of former staffers at the marriott hotel in washington, d.c. yesterday. that's just steps away from the white house. the republican from florida told the national review he was there to catch up with folks and promote education reform. but it sparked speculation he might be considering a presidential bid. why not? something jeb bush did not rule out. rick santorum is keeping all options open. the former candidate telling "the weekly standard" he's, quote, open to another presidential bid. republicans have a long-standing tradition of rewarding the second-place finisher. there are no secrets about chris christie's plan for 2013. he announced yesterday that he will definitely seek a second term. his reasons, hurricane sandy. christie says he has a job to finish. if the election were held today, he would almost definitely win because according to a brand new quinnipiac poll, 72% approve of the job he is doing including 52% of
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democrats. a special election to replace congressman jesse jackson jr. set for march 19th. the primary election set for february 26th. jackson resigned last week citing his health and a federal investigation into campaign spending. several candidateses have tossed their hats into the ring. his wife has been mentioned as a possible replacement although she could face an investigation as his campaign manager. >> jill kelley will soon lose her honorary console status with south korea. the tampa socialite the center of david petraeus' sex scandal at the center of it. that's going to wrap things up for me today. see you back tomorrow, jam packed 11:00 a.m. show. steve israel and raul grivalva, dennis reid, power panel joy ann reid, ary melber. "now" with alex wagner is coming your way. >> u.n. ambassador susan rice
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goes to washington and runs into a whole lot of trouble with the republican opposition. does the gop's inquisition have to do with anything other than her potential cabinet nomination? we will ask richard rolf david corn and joy reid. president obama takes his plan to the people. the white house launches a new campaign to promote middle-class tax cuts, but are we closer to or further from the fiscal cliff? economist justin woolfers weighs in, jose diaz-balart on whether republican heard the wake-up call on immigration reform. there was a lot on the ballot this year but is the drug war over? we will ask knorr new york m-- new york magazine's benjamin wallace-wells about weed's new world order when "now" starts in 180 seconds. folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy, ronny?
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happier than gallagher at a farmers' market. get happy. get geico. chances are, you're not made of money, so don't overpay for motorcycle insurance. geico, see how much you could save.
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if we had only known yesterday what we know today or
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known yesterday that we didn't know then what we know today. wait. what? it's tuesday, november 27th. this is "now." joining me today, mother jones washington bureau chief david corn. benjamin wallace-wells of "new york" magazine, msnbc contributor and queen bee of the grio.com joy reid, and msnbc political analyst and executive editor of msnbc.com, our favorite import from the uk, richard wolffe. after weeks of verbal assaults, lobbed at u.s./u.n. ambassador susan rice by republican leaders the ambassador went to capitol hill to sit down with her critics. did her face-to-face clear up outstanding questions and put an end to the accusatory language? judging by the initial reaction from john mccain,